Patiala, June 25

The Indian men’s 4x400m relay team enhanced its chances of qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics with an effort of 3 minutes, 1.89 seconds in the heats on the opening day of the National Inter-State Athletics Championships here today.

Muhammed Anas Yahiya, Amoj Jacob, Arokia Rajiv and Noah Nirmal Tom took the track with the singular aim of improving the team’s time from 3:02.61 achieved in the Indian Grand Prix 4 here on Monday. Their timing today would lift them from 16th to 13th in the Road to Tokyo ranking. The top-16 teams will compete in all the relay events at the Tokyo Olympics. The qualification deadline is June 29.

The women’s 4x100m relay quartet of Archana Suseendran, Hima Das, S Dhanalakshmi and Dutee Chand — chasing the magical mark of 43.05 seconds to attain qualification — was 0.45 seconds slower in the heats. — PTI

Srihari’s A game not enough for Tokyo spot

New Delhi: Star Indian swimmer Srihari Nataraj came agonisingly close to achieving the elusive Olympics qualification time in the 100m men’s backstroke event before falling short of the mark at the Sette Colli Trophy in Rome today. The 20-year-old Bengaluru swimmer clocked 53.90 seconds, bettering his own national record. However, it was not enough to make the ‘A’ mark for the Tokyo Games set at 53.85 seconds. Advait Page also set a new national record, clocking 15:23.66 in the men’s 1500m freestyle at a qualification event in Los Angeles, USA. PTI